Tapit Trice

Tapit Trice (Tapit) won the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby in his stakes debut back on Mar. 11, but that horse was never going to win the GI Kentucky Derby. Yes, he had become a Grade II winner, is by Tapit, cost $1.3 million at Keeneland September sale and is in the capable hands of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. But the Tapit Trice that won the Tampa Bay Derby looked like an immature horse who had yet to figure the game out. Combine that with the fact...

Favored at 8-5 to build on a two-length victory in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby three weeks ago, Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit) was made to work for it by a worthy adversary in the form of Verifying (Justify), but at the end of nine entertaining furlongs, they gray colt--picked up for $1.3 million just down the hill from the racing oval at the Keeneland sales pavilion some 19 months ago--outgamed last year's GI Champagne S. runner-up by a neck in...

A week after champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) solidified his status as the horse to beat on the first Saturday in May, the final round of major GI Kentucky Derby preps offering 100 points to the winner will share the spotlight on an absolutely stacked Saturday afternoon of racing. Forte's Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate and fellow 'Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), an impossible come-from-behind winner in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 11, will exit from the rail in a deep renewal of the GI Toyota Blue...

We're approaching the edge of the GI Kentucky Derby abyss. Three final 100-points prep races Saturday, followed by four weeks of microscopic analysis and animated speculation. Bring it on! 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, 7-6-0-0, $1,833,230. Last start: 1st GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Apr. 1. Kentucky Derby Points: 190. 'TDN Rising Star' Forte has made...

Approaching the four-week mark to the GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Todd Pletcher has three highly ranked contenders, and the most impressive thing about that collective is that the Hall-of-Fame conditioner has guided them through undefeated 2023 campaigns to date, meticulously mapping out their schedules to avoid overlap. Divisional champ Forte (Violence), now 6-for-7, won Saturday's GI Florida Derby with a mad-dash flourish. 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), the winner of the GIII Tampa Bay Derby, will be heavily favored to improve his 3-for-4 record with another score in Saturday's...

Saturday's two 100-point preps for the GI Kentucky Derby yielded a pair of colts who are polar opposites in many ways. Yet the stock is on the rise for both Two Phil's (Hard Spun) and Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo), as their respective scores in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks and GII Louisiana Derby are attracting attention while stamping both as legitimate mid-tier threats on the Triple Crown totem pole. Two Phil's ($150,000 KEESEP) has appeal as a 4-for-8 blue-collar closer/stalker whose strengths are versatility and adaptability. He's won sprinting and routing...

It's been a memorable few months for trainer-turned-jockey-agent Kiaran McLaughlin. He's been nominated to the Hall of Fame for the first time and, as the agent for Luis Saez, has his client lined up with many of the top horses in the sport, including top candidates for the GI Kentucky Derby in Tapit Trice (Tapit) and Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro). With plenty to talk about, McLaughlin joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. McLaughlin was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week. McLaughlin was asked his...

In a horse otherwise so well equipped for the Triple Crown trail, it's a major concern still to be quoting Milton every time the gates open: "They also serve who only stand and wait." As such, Tapit Trice (Tapit) looks like proving quite a test of the GI Kentucky Derby preparation favored by modern trainers. For all the thrilling power and fluency of his action, he's still all thumbs in terms of his professionalism. The way he got himself out of trouble in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby...

Eclipse Award winner Forte (Violence), impressive 4 1/2-length winner of the GII Fountain of Youth S. in his 3-year-old debut Mar. 4, closed as the 3-1 favorite ($8.76 will pay) in the fifth pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, with Saturday's GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero and 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit) the distance second choice at 8-1 ($18.32). The 'All Other 3-Year-Olds', encompassing any horse not listed among the individual betting interests, closed as the 10-1 ($22.08) third pick, while others to close at 30-1...

Figures released last week by Equibase showed that U.S. handle declined by 5.21% in February. This comes after handle declined by 7.19% in January. For the year, that's a drop off of 6.22% and, if those numbers hold up throughout the year, total handle will be off by $750 million and the year-over-year percentage decline will be the worst the sport has suffered since 2010. And it's not just that racing has gotten off to a slow, reversible start this year when it comes to wagering. Whatever is going on,...

At almost no point during the opening 6 1/2 furlongs of Saturday's GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby did things look particularly promising for Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's heavily favored Tapit Trice (Tapit). But in a stretch rally befitting his status as a 'TDN Rising Star', the $1.3-million Keeneland September graduate went through his gears and whistled home to--somewhat unbelievably--post an open-lengths victory over Classic Car Wash (Noble Bird) and Classic Legacy (Into Mischief), the third- and fourth-place finishers, respectively, in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. four...

Trainer Todd Pletcher has unsaddled the winner of the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby a record five times--no one else has more than two to their credit--and he stands a fair chance to make it a half-dozen Saturday afternoon when he sends out the two favorites on the morning line. Pegged at odds of 8-5 is Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), who will attempt to provide his sire with a fourth winner of the race since in its last 10 runnings (Ring Weekend, 2014; the...